NEW DELHI — Samajwadi Party (SP) President Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday launched a direct attack at the Uttar Pradesh (UP) administration for the violence in Sambhal over the mosque survey and called it a planned conspiracy.
Speaking in Lok Sabha, the SP supremo blamed Yogi Adityanath and UP Police for bloody violence in Sambhal and demanded that the top cops be booked and sacked for hatching a conspiracy against the community.
The former UP Chief Minister said that the police must be held accountable for the death of five people in the deadly violence and murder charges framed against them.
“It was only during the second survey of the mosque that people assembled outside the mosque but police barricaded the area and prevented them from offering namaz, thereby leading to escalation in tension,” he said.
“Only a small number of people pelted stones,” he added.
He also accused the police of insulting the community and said that such surveys yield nothing but create discord and disharmony among communities.
While the SP chief slammed the Yogi government over “gross mishandling” of the situation, he was cheered by party lawmakers, who chanted slogans like “Sambhal ko insaaf chahiye.”
Akhilesh claimed that the BJP was sowing seeds of hatred by engineering a ‘temple beneath mosque’ narrative and said that such surveys will go on to destroy the social fabric of the nation.
Further, taking a sarcastic but pointed jibe at the Yogi Adityanath government, Akhilesh said that the Sambhal violence was a result of the “fight between Delhi and Lucknow.”
“This is a fight between Lucknow and Delhi. The one in Lucknow wants to follow the same path of those seated in Delhi,” he said.
Earlier, SP Rajya Sabha lawmaker Ram Gopal Yadav also hit out at the UP government for the Sambhal violence.
“The whole area around the mosque was turned into a fortress. When people suspected foul play inside the mosque premises, they raised their voice. Policemen instead of addressing their concern started firing at them,” Ram Gopal Yadav said in the Upper House. –IANS
